The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
TV viewers may record broadcast TV programs using a videocassette recorder (VCR). A VCR user is able to record a particular TV program at the time the particular TV program is broadcast and play back the same recorded TV program at a later time. A VCR records a TV program by changing the electrical signals representing a TV program into magnetic signals and storing the magnetic signals on a magnetic tape. The magnetic tape is usually in the form of a videocassette tape inserted into the VCR by the VCR user. When a VCR user decides to play back the TV program, the process is reversed, and the VCR changes the magnetic signals stored on the videocassette tape into electrical signals and sends the electrical signals to a TV set for display.
With the development of digital technology, VCRs are being replaced by digital video recorders (DVRs). A DVR records broadcast TV programs for later playback by changing electrical signals of the TV program into digital information and storing the digital information on a storage device. When a user plays back the recorded TV program, the DVR converts the digital information back to analog signals and sends the signals to the TV set which displays the TV program for the viewer. In addition, with the advent of digital TVs, the DVR is able to receive digital and analog signals and send digital signals directly to a digital TV set that displays the TV program in digital form. Many content providers now use digital cable and satellite technology to broadcast digital programming. The digital programming is received by cable boxes and/or satellite transceivers that are used to display the digital programming to a user on a display screen. DVRs thus have the ability to receive digital programming signals from cable boxes or satellite transceivers for recording and display as well as being incorporated into such devices.
If the DVR is successfully connected to a network, then the DVR is also able to store and display content that has been downloaded from the network. For example, video content might be downloaded from the Internet from a variety of sources, such as CINet or nytimes.com. After a user has instructed the DVR to download particular content, the DVR requests the download and once downloaded, stores the content for later viewing by a user.
DVRs have become increasingly popular and widely used for storing and displaying all types of multimedia content. As the amount of content available has increased, being able to search for and find desirable content has become increasingly important. Categorizing and labeling content for users and maintaining that information to ensure accuracy helps in improving those searches. Thus, mechanisms that improve the management of labeling for multimedia content has become increasingly important.